Positional adjustment device for casket beds



United States Patent Donald A. Morand Dauville, Illinois 764,516

Oct. 2, 1968 Nov. 10, 1970 Estad Products, Inc. Dansville, Illinois a corporation of Oregon Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee POSITIONAL ADJUSTMENT DEVICE FOR CASKET BEDS 2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl. 248/221,

Int. Cl F16m 13/02, A61g 17/00, A47g 29/00, F1 6m 11/00 Field olSearch 27/12, 1, 2,

13, 27, 28, 32; 5/68, 282, 295, 296; 74/lnq, 531; 248/Inq, 355,410, 48.2, 125, 144,295

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,062,371 12/1936 Musser 46/119 2,449,424 9/1948 Stieber 248/295 2,637,113 5/1953 Kroenlein..... 33/154 Re. 24,290 3/1957 Macknight 155/81 FOREIGN PATENTS 426,880 4/1935 Great Britain 155/158 Primary ExaminerRichard A. Gaudet Assistant ExaminerJ0hn B. Mitchell Attorney-Woodard, Weikart, Emhardt and Naughton ABSTRACT: Disclosed is a mechanism for elevating or lowering a bed within a casket comprising a vertical rod on which a bracket, having rigid attachment to the bed frame, is accommodated with a clamp member pivotally mounted on the bracket and spring biased into clamping relation with the rod, a tab on the clamp member permitting manual release of the spring bias for adjusting the position of the bracket on the vertical rod.

Patented 'Nbv. 10, 1970 3,539,142

Sheet 1 of2 Fig. 3

INVENTOR DONALD A. MoszAuo BY LLQMAWL M Mr mmrg Mm iqfor'nc' J- POSITIONAL ADJUSTMENT DEVICE FOR CASKET BEDS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The bed accommodating a body within a casket must be adjustable as to height and, preferably, also as to attitude particularly since the open-casket display of the body requires a vertical positioning differing from that required at closing of the casket. Adjustable mountings for casket beds are, of course, not unknown in the prior art, however, these are generally characterized by a screw type adjustment necessitating relatively lengthy and distracting hand cranking by the funeral director or attendant at the time of final closing of the casket in the funeral ceremony. 1

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The adjusting mechanism of the present invention utilizes a manually releasable clamp attachment of the casket bed to a vertical rod mounted within the casket, the clamp attachment having a finger-release tab by means of which the clamp may be released to rapidly and conveniently lower the casket bed within the casket without requiring cranking of the bed into position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, perspective view of the apparatus of the present invention mounted on a casket bed.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the adjusting mechanism of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an end view ofthe structure shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary end view, similar to FIG. 3, but showing a modified form of the bed attaching bracket.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a casket showing the structure of the present invention installed on a casket bed which is arranged to be tilted within the casket.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring initially to FIG. 1, the bed frame may be seen to be composed of a transverse head member 11 and longitudinal side frame members 12 spring construction 13 extends between the frame members in conventional fashion. The adjusting mechanism of the present invention is indicated generally at 14.

Referring to-FIGS. 2 and 3, the mechanism includes a rod 16 vertically mounted within a casket adjacent any. of the frame members (but in FIG. 1 illustrated to be mounted adjacent the head frame member l1). The rod is mounted by means of a foot bracket 17 attached to the adjacent casket surface 18 (FIG. 3). The upper end of the rod is secured by means of a top bracket 19, one leg of which receives the rod 16 and the other leg is adapted to be secured to the adjacent side surface 21 (FIG. 3) of the casket. A generally channel shaped bracket 22 is provided with apertures 23 in its leg portions 24, and the apertures freely accommodate the rod 16. The web portion 22 of the bracket is rigidly secured by means of fasteners 26 to the bed frame member 11.

A release lever 31 is provided at one end with a tab 32 which extends through an aperture in the lower flange 24 of the bracket 22 and provides a pivotal mounting for the release lever on the bracket. The lever is provided with an aperture 33 through which the rod 16 freely extends when the lever is in generally horizontal position. The lever is resiliently urged into tilted position, as shown in FIG. 2, by means of the coiled tension spring 34 which extends between the lever 31 and the upper flange 24 of the bracket. The spring biases the lever to its position of FIG. 2 thus binding the lever against the rod at the aperture 33 and serving to hold the bracket 22 fixed on the rod. The free end of the lever 31 is formed outwardly to provide a thumb engageable tab 36 so that by depressing the tab, against the force exerted by spring 34, the lever may be moved to a generally horizontal position thereby releasing the bracket on the rod. In operation, thus, the casket bed may be placed at the desired position b movin the lever 31 to a generally horizontal position an then re easing the lever to hold the bed in the adjusted position. Lowering of the bed on the rod 16 may be easily accomplished by depressing the tab 36, letting the weight of the bed move the bracket down the rod to the proper position at which point the tab 36 may be released. The downward adjustment or positioning of the bed, normally required at the closing of the casket top or cap may thus be accomplished without the prolonged cranking which is characteristic of prior art devices utilizing a screw thread adjustment.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a modified form of bracket 22 is shown, this type of bracket permitting a longitudinal adjustment of the bed. In this structure the bracket 22 of FIG. 4 is identical to the bracket previously described except that it has attached to it by means of fasteners 41 a generally L-shapcd bracket 42. The bracket 42 is provided with an elongated slot 43 in its horizontally extending leg 42a. The horizontally extending leg 42ais adapted to have resting thereon the frame member of a casket bed and a bolt or other fastener (not shown) may extend from the bed into the slot 43, the slot permitting horizontal positional adjustment of the bed frame on the bracket leg 42a. After the frame has been secured to the bracket leg 42a at the desired position, raising and lowering the bed by means of the adjusting structure previously described may be carried out.

As may be seen in FIG. 5, the mechanism 14 of the present invention may be utilized with a casket bed mounted within the casket so that its longitudinal frame members 12 are pivoted within the casket at a pivot axis such as indicated at 51. With this arrangement it will be understood that movement of the head end of the bed by means of the adjusting mechanism of the present invention alters the attitude of the bed within the casket.

The adjusting mechanism of the present invention, while shown herein as located at the head end of the casket bed, may also be installed at desired positions along the side frame members of the casket bed and at the foot frame member of the bed. The adjusting mechanism is relatively simple and easily operated and provides a relatively strong and rugged installation.

Iclaim:

1. A position-adjusting mechanism for a casket bed or the like comprising a rod adapted to be vertically mounted within a casket adjacent a bed frame, a bracket having a web portion in a plane parallel to the axis of said rod and having flanges apertured, freely accommodating said rod, said bracket being adapted to be rigidly connected to the bed frame, a release lever pivotally supported on one of said bracket flanges and having an aperture through which said rod freely extends, resilient means acting between the other of said bracket flanges and said lever for binding said lever against the rod at said lever aperture, and a tab extending from said lever adapted to be manually actuated to move said lever against the force exerted by said resilient means to release said bracket on the rod.

2. A position adjusting mechanism as claimed in claim 1 in which said bracket is channel-shaped in cross section with said rod-accommodating apertures in the leg portions and said web portion being adapted for rigid connection to the bed frame. 

